> Lol, How many times does one (me in particular) need to read inspirational stories about hard work, dedication, pizza, and soda pop to actually do something about it?
If you want a good source of motivation, you might try getting a horrible job for a while.
Really. I did door to door sales when I was a girl. Hours upon hours of walking around seeing people who want nothing more in their heart of hearts than for you to fuck off and die. Nothing motivated me more to put in the hours at uni - even though I didn't like what I was studying - than the prospect of going back to that soul-crushing job, nothing's motivated me more to put in the hours at things that don't really please me than that either.
These days, when people tell me that something's hard, or that they have a shit job, I really have to step on my tongue to stop myself turning around and going - You don't know what a horrible job is, not really. You've been on easy street all your life.
I have to second this. I made the best progress learning and building when I was stocking shelves at Target for $8 an hour in a rich neighborhood. I've experienced many of these sentiments.
Unfortunately, I took this position after graduating.
In the sense I think you mean, sometimes it's an advantage because if you're chirpy and infantilise yourself a bit some people take pity on you more than they would a man. (If it's raining generally people are in a really bad mood, few people want to open their door and get cold and see grey. But if it's snowing - I always had really good leads when it was snowing. There were like two weeks of snow where I was getting three leads (around £100) a day. In either case though you don't want to mention it to people, you want to let them mention it and make a bit of a joke about it.)
On the negative side, there are some areas you really don't want to work as a girl. At the very least you want to be paired with a man, preferably an older man, when you're doing them. A lot of people in those areas are going to tend to look at you as being... owned pretty much... by the man you're with. That's not a nice feeling but it's still preferable to the alternative. I never had anyone grab me but this old guy stroked my hair once and god that was SO creepy.
It's not a job I was well suited to. I was good at it but emotionally you need a certain degree of detachment or it's going to mess you up. A lot of the girls in my team were really cold deep down, covered over with a sort of brittle humour. When you hear someone joking all the time, blustering about how tough they are, it's generally been my experience that it's a sign of severe insecurity. Almost like they're reassuring themselves. Some very rough backgrounds getting by on their wits there. Don't get me wrong, they really were tough, they weren't lying about that. But unfortunately when you go into things with the short-term idea that you can get yourself out of them because, "hey, wits," you'll almost inevitably end up getting yourself into situations where you're obliged to get yourself out of them. To a large extent a pride in your wits seems to arise from a lack of a plan.
Some girls let other girls stay with them when they were having particularly bad times at home, and I saw that end poorly a couple of times. Some of those people are predators, that's the thing you've got to remember. When you invite a predator into your home; put your arm in their mouth; you can't be that surprised when you get bitten.
So, yeah. I think there are things about being a girl that make the job slightly different in some respects. Not hugely so but noticeably.
Also wear flats, the extra height can be nice but walking in heels for six hours isn't fun. ^_^
If you want a good source of motivation, you might try getting a horrible job for a while.
Really. I did door to door sales when I was a girl. Hours upon hours of walking around seeing people who want nothing more in their heart of hearts than for you to fuck off and die. Nothing motivated me more to put in the hours at uni - even though I didn't like what I was studying - than the prospect of going back to that soul-crushing job, nothing's motivated me more to put in the hours at things that don't really please me than that either.
These days, when people tell me that something's hard, or that they have a shit job, I really have to step on my tongue to stop myself turning around and going - You don't know what a horrible job is, not really. You've been on easy street all your life.